If there were to be a poll for the top dish that signifies comfort food for north Indians, Dal Tadka would probably be the unanimous answer. A dal tadka recipe is whipped up to satiate any craving for a no-fuss home cooked meal, whether one is at home or longing for Indian food while travelling. Our yellow dal tadka recipe is just that – simple to prepare, great to eat, and enjoyed by one and all.
When you try our Yummefy-ed dal tadka recipe, you will get an appetizing dal with earthy flavours of the mixed lentils and notes of heat from the green chillies and chilli powder. Dal tadka gets its body from the zesty ginger, pungent garlic, and tart tomatoes. But it is the first two Dal tadka ingredients i.e. ghee and cumin seeds which make this dal tadka masala come alive and bring it together as a whole, adding depth of flavour. We like adding generous amounts of fresh coriander leaves to our dal tadka for a yummy herby hit.
Before you move on to read how to prepare dal tadka, here is a bit about this fabulous recipe. While it is common in north Indian homes, the dal tadka recipe is typically a dhaba preparation made along the highways of northern India. It is common to see truck drivers and other highway travelers stopping by for a quick hot meal digging into their restaurant style dal tadka with a fresh naan or tandoori roti. There is nothing better than a good meal of this tasty dal along with some vegetables and rice or rotis.
The name dal tadka comes from ‘Dal’ which means lentils and ‘Tadka’ which is a tempering. Tadka is indispensable to Indian cooking. It may have a different nomenclature across different regions of India and the ingredients may differ too, but the process of making the tempering remains the same. Tempering or tadka is called ‘baghar’ in parts of Uttar Pradesh, chaunk in many Hindi speaking regions, while in the state of Maharastra, it is called ‘phodni’ and Gujaratis call it ‘vaghar’.
While dal tadka may be the favourite preparation at dhabas and homes in northern India, people eat dal in various forms across India. Hyderabad is famous for its Khatti Dal while Lucknow makes a preparation called Sultani Dal; southern India makes various samabarams and rasams from dal, the Sindhi community makes their famous Dal Pakwan, and in Maharashtra, Amti is a famous dal preparation. There is a wide variety of choices of dal available to Indians such as Chana dal, Toor or Tuvar Dal, Moong dal, Masoor dal, Urad Dal et al.
For everyday food, simple dal preparations are preferred but dal can be festive food too. Dal Makhani made with lots of butter and cream is one such preparation. Dal Bati Churma of Rajasthan is another festive preparation.
When you make our version of dal tadka, it is necessary to soak both the dals for the specified time before cooking them. Soaking helps shorten the cooking time and the two dals come together beautifully post cooking. We are often asked which dal is used to make Dal Tadka. While we have used black gram (urad dal dhuli) and split pigeon peas (toor dal), you may choose a mix of two other lentils that you have at hand such as mung beans husked (moong dhuli) and masoor dal, or even choose to make it with just a single dal though the flavours will differ.
Ghee is the preferred medium of fat to make the tempering for dal tadka as it imparts its distinct aroma to any preparation it is used in. If you prefer not to use ghee to fry dal tadka, you could use other fats such as vegetable oil or peanut oil for the tempering. You can also mix oil with a just teaspoon of ghee to impart the flavor and aroma of ghee.
If you want a restaurant style dal tadka you could garnish the dal with a second tempering after completing all the steps given in the recipe. Heat two teaspoons of ghee and add half a teaspoon of cumin seeds to it along with a pinch of asafetida, and a dried and broken red chilli. When the tempering sizzles you can pour it over the prepared dal in the serving bowl itself. The red chilli tadka gives a nice reddish hue to the dal. You could also add some more chopped coriander and ginger juliennes before serving the dal.
The yellow dal tadka can be served with steamed rice or masala rice. You could even serve it with breads of your choice such as rotis, naans, plain parathas, or lachha paranthas.
If you liked this recipe of dal tadka, try making these Yummefy recipes as a perfect accompaniment:
Green Peas Masala
Punjabi Dhaba chicken
Dhungar Paneer Masala
Paneer Butter Masala
Fish Amritsari
Kachumber
Mango Lassi
Gobi Masala
Jackfruit Curry | Kathal ki Sabzi
Or see all our Vegetarian Recipes right here!